Oxford Police Department Dispatcher Alan Jeskey sits for a photo at his dispatch station at the Main Street police station. Currently, Jeskey is helping implement changes to the dispatch department, which has been mandated through the state to improve efficiency.

BY JOY RICHARD WEBSTER TIMES STAFF WRITER OXFORD — Emergency dispatches throughout the Commonwealth are prepar­ing for changes to the way they take 911 calls. In Oxford, police depart­ment dispatcher Alan Jeskey said the idea to change how dispatchers operate came back in 2008. He said as of 2012, all emergency dispatch­ers must implement what the state is calling “emergency medical dispatch.”He said after 15 years with the department this is one of the more substantial changes to the system. He said twothings about the system he is most happy about is the training and supplies are paid for by grants, costing residents nothing, but providing them with what he feels is better service.Jeskey explained the new system requires dispatchers to ask more questions of the caller, but will not increase the response of emergency crews. He said these extra questions are designed to understand the full extent of the emergency and will better help both Oxford fire and police officers when they send crews out into the field. “This provides better pre-hospital care,” said Jeskey during an interview on Wednesday, March 28. “It helps determine what the root causes are.’ He said more information helps get the right responders to the scene with the correct equipment. “You wouldn’t need a paramedic for someone who cut their finger,” said Jeskey. “Many times sending paramedics out on a call can be a wasted resource.” In the end, Jeskey agreed that the whole plan boils down to making the system more efficient. Oxford Fire Chief Sheri Bemis, who has worked alongside Jeskey and the police department on this project, said she is pleased with the progress they have made. “What it will do for us is it gives us the pertinent information prior to arrival,” said Bemis. She said an example of when first responders find other, more severe issues when they arrive at a call, is when a resident reported they were having trouble breathing. Bemis said when crews got to the home they found the patient was having trouble with their breathing because they were smoking while on oxygen, and a fire had started. She said with a few more questions dispatchers will be able to have a clear­er picture of the problem before send­ing paramedics to a scene. Bemis said with the extra training dispatchers are receiving they will now be able to instruct residents on bleed­ing control, CPR and other ways to safely stabilize a patient before rescue workers arrive. “It is going to take a little more time on the phone,” said Jeskey. “A few of the people have said just get me the help. In reality an ambulance is on the way.” Police Chief Michael Hassett said he is pleased with how well this new sys­tem has worked in the calls they have taken in the last few weeks. “I know that Alan and Sherri are the ones that spearheaded this,” said Hassett. “But all [the departments] are in it together.” He went on to say that the most important part of this program is get­ting the word out to residents and edu­cating them on the new system. Joy Richard may be reached at 508- 909-4129 or by email at jrichard@stone­bridgepress.com.

Alan R. Jeskey recalls the time he dispatched a regular ambulance with oxygen to an emergency call from a man complaining of being unable to breathe.

While the ambulance was en route, Mr. Jeskey, Oxford police and fire communications center supervisor, returned to the caller who then provided more information about his predicament.

“It's burning,” the man said. “It's really burning.”

Mr. Jeskey then learned that the man had accidentally burned himself while trying to light a cigarette. “He had severe burns on his upper arms and body,” he said, which prompted him to dispatch firefighters as well.

Mr. Jeskey uses the story to illustrate how the quality of information dispatchers receive influences the efficiency of the emergency response.

And now new state regulations will improve the way all dispatchers handle 911 medical emergencies. The dispatchers have until July 1 to become certified in the State 911 Department Emergency Medical Dispatch which will establish certification requirements and standardize 911 emergency medical call handling by dispatchers throughout the state.

“The level of care will be better,” said Mr. Jeskey, a dispatcher for 15 years. “And the response time will be the same.”

Some towns are already fully trained and using the new call-handling procedures, and many others are in the process. What 911 callers will notice is that dispatchers will be asking for a lot more information about the nature of a medical emergency using scripted questions and software programs. The answers will help dispatchers send the most appropriate ambulance, equipment and personnel, update responders on their way to the emergency, provide pre-ambulance arrival instructions to the caller and provide standardized CPR, airway obstruction, basic First Aid and patient comfort instructions over the phone.

Dispatchers typically ask basic questions, dispatch an ambulance, police or fire crew, and hang up as the caller waits for help to arrive. Under the new regulations, call-takers will dispatch the proper response, and then return to the caller.

“On any call that requires medical assistance,” said Frank Pozniak, executive director of the State 911 Department. “They will be given that assistance by a certified call-taker. It's all part of our goal to enhance public safety.”

Most public safety dispatch centers in Central Massachusetts, including Worcester, are going to have state-certified emergency medical dispatchers in house, according to Mr. Pozniak. The training is funded through state grants, and most departments have filed grant applications.

The re-vamping of the state's public safety statues began in 2008, and the new July 1, 2011 regulations are an extension of the wide-ranging legislation. Mr. Pozniak said the push in the state to “professionalize” 911 call-takers has been a long time coming.

“The goal is to have highly-trained call-takers,” Mr. Pozniak said. Mr. Jeskey said all the dispatchers in Oxford currently are being trained in the new procedures.

“Reading off a card,” Mr. Jeskey said. “That's going to be the biggest challenge.”

Dispatchers will have 20 double-sided flip cards at their ready, for all the most frequent medical emergencies. Mr. Jeskey explained the new system to senior citizens two weeks ago.

“We're basically six minutes away from anyone in any part of Oxford,” Mr. Jeskey said. “That was their main concern. That was the one point they really wanted to be assured of. My main message is that the ambulance doesn't have to be the first one on the scene to provide care. We're going to do that over the phone.”

At the Rutland Regional Dispatch Center, located on Main Street in Rutland, all 10 dispatchers are certified, according to Nathan P. Kenney, who will serves as the director of emergency communications for Rutland, Oakham, Hubbardston and Barre starting July 1.

Mr. Kenney said if a 65-year-old called with chest pains, the dispatcher in the past would broadcast to the ambulance with really no more medical updates. Now the dispatcher will be able to go back to the caller and provide more in-depth medical instructions.

“The new system means that no matter what town you live in, the level of care will be the same,” Mr. Kenney said, and the medical response is streamlined. Dispatchers are staying on the phone with the scene more and responders are bringing the equipment they need, while the callers on the phone are more informed on what's going on.”

Ricci W. Hall, a part-time dispatcher and paramedic in Oxford, said training has been well-received and there is much more understanding now on the “whys” of a medical call.

“Anytime you change someone's job description, there's a little bit of nervousness,” Mr. Hall said. “In many ways, I think the new system will assuage anxieties because of the guide cards.”

When she answers the telephone, all Spencer emergency dispatcher Holly Collette hears is screaming.

It doesn't stop, despite Mrs. Collette's requests for the caller to calm down and tell her what's wrong. She sends several cruisers to the address that shows up on the 911 screen but she's not sure what they'll find. She keeps asking questions of the caller and when the pitch of the screams changes, she's pretty sure the woman wants an ambulance for someone other than herself.

Officers arrive and find a man, unconscious, not breathing and in cardiac arrest. An ambulance isn't far behind and the man is taken to the hospital, but does not survive.

The call is in stark contrast to the man who rings the police station the night before Thanksgiving, angry because he cannot find a place to donate food and ready to take out his frustrations on Mrs. Collette. He is convinced there are people starving in town and quickly becomes upset because, aside from providing the telephone number for a church, Mrs. Collette cannot tell him what to do. After two calls to the dispatcher, he gives up.

It is the never knowing what will happen next that makes Mrs. Collette like her job. "I have a short attention span," she jokes.

But it takes a certain kind of person to do this job - one who doesn't take personally things that are said in the heat of a crisis. Sometimes, dispatchers said, callers don't seem to realize that real people are on the other end of the 911 line. They want help, but then begin berating the people who can help them.

"I heard one dispatcher say something to a caller the other day," said Beverly J. Mimeault, supervisor of the state police Regional Dispatch Center in New Braintree. "She told him, `I'm not the one you're mad at.'"

Many times dispatchers are therapists. Sometimes they must try to read minds. And there are always calls that leave them laughing.

In New Braintree, 13 dispatchers provide services for 10 towns: the four Brookfields, plus Hardwick, New Braintree, Brimfield, Holland, Wales andPetersham. Sometimes, the circular room where they work at the front of the state police training facility is deadly quiet. Many times, it is not.

"I like weeding through the chaos and making sense of it," he said during an interview at his post in New Braintree. "It's satisfying."

He had wanted to be a dispatcher since he was a young teenager and volunteered for the job when he turned 16. He worked as a volunteer before being hired as a dispatcher years later.Oxford dispatcher Alan R. Jeskey finds satisfaction in his job even though he can quickly remember some very frustrating nights. Once, a man made 32 calls to 911 in an hour, berating the police and "calling us terrorists." But those calls pale when there's an opportunity to help. Even though it seems like a small thing, Mr. Jeskey said, he is proud that he was able to reunite a young girl with her lost backpack using information gleaned from a library book. Another time he gathered details about a vehicle that hit a pedestrian and did a little detective work that helped officers find the car and charge the driver.

"When you do make a difference, you feel really good," he said. "You go home happy."

Sometimes, though he is able to leave the job behind at the end of his shift, things he hears trouble him. "When kids call 911 and mom and dad are fighting and you can hear it in the background. Being a dad, you want to protect them," he said.

One New Braintree dispatcher said she was overcome during a call several years ago. A man's 2-year-old had fallen from a dock into the lake. He got the child out of the water and, she said, she gave the best medical advice she could come up with though she didn't know what results it might bring. When she heard the child cry, she joined in with tears of her own, relieved the toddler was breathing. That call came before dispatchers were trained to give emergency medical advice.

It prompted the dispatcher to become an EMT so she could offer proper information in a medical emergency.

Dispatchers know they help many people but sometimes they feel unappreciated. After a big storm, residents thank highway crews for clearing the roads, police for sorting out their car accidents, firefighters for extricating them from their mangled vehicles and ambulance personnel for patching them up after a crash. "I want to say, `Hey, what about us?'" Ms. Mimeault said. "We're the first first responders."

A few years ago, a holiday crash killed one person. Ms. Mimeault knew the victim. Everyone who responded was affected by the tragedy, but when the time came for a stress debriefing in which emergency personnel could vent, the dispatchers who handled the call weren't included. It is clear that call will be forever in her mind, and today, she said, she believes dispatchers are offered more services for coping with the stress of their jobs.

Most of the dispatchers stay at their jobs for years. Those who leave usually take jobs in law enforcement or fire services. Those with many years on the job have seen technology make their work easier with computers that show a caller's address and may even tell them if a person has special needs. They have noticed the number of calls increasing with the use of cell phones. They dread calls from suicidal people and always hope they can convince a person that there are other options. They chuckle over calls where people are stuck in their bathrooms or in other humorous but not dangerous predicaments.

Mrs. Collette has worked in Spencer since 1995 and recently spent more than three hours on a call that ended with a man shooting himself while officers were outside. She was able to get him to send his children out and also learned that he'd killed his wife days earlier and buried her body.

The information helped police find the deceased woman sometime later.

Because Spencer is a small community, there is some camaraderie among police officers and dispatchers, especially on the evening shift, which is staffed by the same people most of the time. The officers know that Mrs. Collette is the one who will be sending them help should they find themselves in a bad situation. They know that if she doesn't hear from them a few minutes after they arrive on a call, she'll check to be sure they're OK. They know she can be counted on.

"It's good to have someone there that you know you can trust," said Officer Norman L. Hodgerney Jr.

CUTLINE: (PHOTO 1) Charles V. McCoy, a dispatcher at the state police Regional Dispatch Center in New Braintree, likes "weeding through the chaos and making sense of it." (PHOTO 2) Beverly J. Mimeault, supervisor of the state police Regional Dispatch Center in New Braintree, said dispatchers are the "first first responders." (PHOTO 3) Electronic communications equipment at the state police Regional Dispatch Center in New Braintree. (CHART) What dispatchers say 911 callers should doCOPYRIGHT 2007 Worcester Telegram & GazetteNo portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.Copyright 2007 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

OXFORD - Voters who supported the police when a new station was needed desperately will have a chance to see it Oct. 29. The grand opening and ribbon-cutting for the new Oxford Police Station, 503 Main St., begins at 4 p.m.

Police Chief Michael J. Boss said the spacious station has made a huge difference to local police. "Everybody is more in tune with what they are doing. It makes tough days easier," he said.

Jennie L. Caissie, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said that although grants were sought, no federal or state aid was received for the project. The $4.2 million station was funded through a Proposition 2-1/2 debt exclusion voters approved in May 2008.

The 20,000-square-foot building replaces the 40-year-old, 4,000-square-foot station at 450 Main St. and houses offices and space for 16 patrolmen, three sergeants and the chief of police.

"We are getting used to it. When I go back to the old station, I can't imagine how we did it," Chief Boss said.

Outside, the Hartland Memorial monument greets visitors with a list of departed Oxford police officers. The original granite stone, which hardly was visible beside the old station, now stands proudly flanked by wing stones near the entrance to the new building.

The station's lobby is approximately the size of the old hallway and dispatch center combined. Off to one side is the chief's office complex, and on the other is the spacious dispatch area, with two fully equipped desks, complete with internal and external monitors. The old station had a crowded dispatch area with one desk.

Alan R. Jeskey, head dispatcher, said, "We have functional equipment that is easy to access. This is great."

Rooms can only be accessed with a special electronic key and entry code. A records room, interview room and four offices open off the south side of the building, while in the center is the sergeants' room, with four large cubicles and a seating area

Police Sgt. Michael C. Hassett said, "This is a very nice and spacious area for us. I never thought I'd see it."

Across the hall and visible through glass windows is the squad room, with 10 computer stations, to minimize crowding for patrolmen.

There is a "soft interview room," where children safely can sit and relax while being monitored, Chief Boss said. "Kids under 14 can't go into a cell. In the old station, you used to see them on the floor of dispatch, asleep on a blanket, until their parents or the Department of Family Services could come get them."

Two evidence rooms, with nine secure lockers and a refrigerator with locked compartments, offer ample space for evidence storage and preparation.

A sally port allows police to back a car into a secured area before taking a suspect directly into a holding cell. A new eye-wash station in the sally port was used the first week of operation.

"It was a lovely day in August when a woman was rear-ended on Route 20. Everything was fine until her husband arrived and got in an altercation with police. He had to be Maced, and was first to use the eye-wash station. He was arrested and charged with assault," Chief Boss said.

A circular hole in the protective glass of the holding cell allows administration of a breath test with minimal contact with a suspect.

Off the booking area are an interrogation room, three cells for male adults and two cells for juveniles or females.

A problem common in cells is averted by a clever flushing system. Toilets must be flushed by police who push a button outside the cells in the booking area. This minimizes problems with prisoners intentionally flooding cells, Chief Boss said.

A Cross Match Live Scan inkless fingerprint scanner that used to sit in a cabinet in the hallway of the old police station is housed on a shelf, ready to use, in the new station.

There is an armory for weapons storage, a lunch room, a storage room and a large gym, complete with separate locker rooms for men and women. The gym is lighted from outside with two skylights and large windows. Chief Boss said the gym will likely cut costs for his department.

"I spend $3,000 a year on gym memberships. With an in-house gym, that could change," he said.

On the second floor is a large unfinished area, accessible by stairs or elevator, now used to house computer servers.

"If the town keeps growing, in 20 years we can expand up there. For now, it provides a huge amount of storage space," Chief Boss said.

Finally, downstairs, accessible from the front entranceway or the back of the station, is a large training room that seats 32. The room is fully equipped with a wireless router, white board, television and drop-down screen.

CUTLINE: (1) Oxford Police Chief Michael J. Boss sits at his desk in his office at the new police station. (2) The new Oxford police station, 503 Main St., gives the department plenty of space now and for the foreseeable future. (3) Alan R. Jeskey, head dispatcher, sits in the spacious dispatch center in the new police station.

Fifty percent of emergency call-takers will hear someone say these words during their careers, because many thinking about suicide call 911 as a last resort.

"Dispatchers are the first person on the scene of every crime, fire, incident or medical emergency," said veteran Quincy Police Lt. Charles E. Santoro. He did suicide-intervention training for Powerphone dispatchers throughout the region last week at Oxford Police Headquarters. Powerphone is a Connecticut-based crisis-communications company

Dispatcher Alan Jeskey organized the suicide intervention training, just one of the training classes that are periodically offered at the new police headquarters.

From the minute dispatchers sit down, Lt. Santoro said, they must take potential suicide calls seriously. Dispatchers must always put aside personal problems while they are on duty, he said.

"The public is not concerned about what your day is like," Lt. Santoro said. "The public is concerned about resolving their problem."

Dispatchers listened to a number of chilling 911 calls during training. They heard examples of dispatchers speaking with callers in the absolute worst way possible. "We do not want to put people on hold," Lt. Santoro warned, or treat them in cold or dispassionate tones of voice.

In other examples, dispatchers handled callers compassionately and with a keen sense of protecting others who could be harmed.

Nationally, one person calls every 17 minutes to report a suicide or is a potential suicide victim, Lt. Santoro said. There are 30,000 suicides every year in the U.S. On an average day, 84 people commit suicide, and 1,900 adults attempt suicide.

"You will get the call," he told the dispatchers.

Dispatchers learned some of the social explanations for suicide, including how it often goes hand-in-hand with domestic violence; some differences between male and female suicides (men are much more likely to use a firearm); and the rates of adolescent and elder suicides.

People contemplating suicide are in pain 24-7, he said. "These individuals need to vent."

But sometimes dispatchers receive calls from potential suicide victims who call and quickly hang up. They listened to a 21-year-old woman who called 911 before she killed herself because she was an organ donor and wanted authorities to find her body quickly.

"When I talk about separating yourself from problems," Lt. Santoro said several times during the training, "I mean it." Dispatchers have a high-stress job and should seek help if they need it, he said.

Several in the training room cringed when they heard a shotgun blast end a 911 call from a man who committed suicide.

Most dispatchers at the training session said they had received a call from a potentially suicidal person.

Oxford dispatcher Rebecca L. Prefontaine said she received a 911 call on which she also heard a "bang" at the end of the call. "My thing is he wanted someone to find his body," said Ms. Prefontaine.

Lt. Santoro told dispatchers not to be afraid to ask questions of a potentially suicidal caller - "Are you having thoughts of suicide? How do you intend to commit suicide? Do you have a plan? What is your plan?" - because they need to protect responders, other family members and those who may be nearby, as well as the caller.

Ninety percent of potential suicide callers are ambivalent about killing themselves, he said.

The dispatcher should keep lists of other suicide prevention resources in plain view on their consoles, including phone numbers of agencies and clergy, he said. They should use active listening skills and practice them.

"Did you react the way a jury would want you to react?" Lt. Santoro said. For dispatchers it is not "just the facts" anymore, he said.

Massachusetts is changing the way dispatchers will handle 911 calls, he said. The state is incorporating mental health training into dispatcher training, as well as teaching dispatchers how to talk 911 callers through medical emergencies. It also is developing procedures for handling calls involving autistic children, Alzheimer's patients and calls from those with other physical handicaps.

"Two million Americans suffer from manic depression," Lt. Santoro said. Patients with manic depressive illness are far more likely to commit suicide than people in any other psychiatric or medical risk group, he said. "We will be encouraging dispatchers to get further training in mental illnesses in the future."